Sarkis Hatspanian, Artsakh

Two years ago today, Artsakh war veteran, political commentator and activist, Sarkis Hatspanian, passed away in Lyon, France. He was only 55. He was born and grew up in Turkey before relocating to Armenia from France in 1990. He took part in the subsequent Armenian-Azerbaijani war for Artsakh.

Born in Adiyaman, southeastern Turkey and former Cilicia, he had left for France in 1980 to avoid persecution of the military dictatorship in Turkey, and then had moved to Armenia to join the Karabakh war in 1990. He participated in the liberation of the Karvajar (Kelbashar) region joining Armenia to Karabagh.

A photo of him with an elderly woman became a symbol of the war. This photo had two stories, one very real, the other a complete lie. The real story was as reported by a French journalist who accompanied the Armenian forces during the campaign, depicting Sarkis with an 80 year old Azeri woman, Shaikha Hanum.

She was left behind, along with other elderly Azeri women and children in the Karvajar district, when all the able-bodied Azeris had fled ahead of the advancing Armenian forces. Her son was a police commander in the district. Sarkis was in charge of taking care of the Azeri civilians, and eventually providing safe passage to Gandzag (Kirovabad).

On the same day that this story and photo was published in France, a fake story was posted in the Turkish daily, Milliyet, using the same photo, depicting Sarkis as an Azeri soldier, rescuing his Azeri grandmother from the Armenian enemy…

After the war, he became politically active and a fierce critic of the bribery and corruption of the oligarchs in the government and in the church, expressing his views very eloquently and articulately during frequent TV appearances.